USE OF FORCE AT BORDER INVESTIGATED

The federal government is reviewing Customs and Border Protection’s use-of-force policies amid questions about the agency’s involvement in 19 deaths since 2010, including the friendly-fire shooting of a Border Patrol agent.

The examination is being conducted by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General. It was revealed in a few sentences in an October planning document for fiscal year 2013.

That document said the review came in response to a May letter from 16 members of Congress seeking more details about the 2010 death of unauthorized immigrant Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, who was beaten and shot with a stun gun before dying while in Border Patrol custody in San Ysidro.

Customs and Border Protection, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, oversees Border Patrol agents and Ports of Entry officers. The agency’s officials did not return phone calls seeking comment about the review.

Experts said these types of investigations often are spurred by Congressional requests and can be beneficial.

“Applying internal and external pressure is all part of our system of checks and balances,” said Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight in Washington, D.C. “Oversight of federal agencies, policies, programs and spending is essential to making the government more efficient and protecting the public.”

The review’s findings and recommendations will be sent to Customs and Border Protection for a response, and then the combined material will be submitted to Congress, said Bill Hillburg, spokesman for the Office of Inspector General. The office does not reveal its methods of analysis, which Hillburg said will likely take months to complete.

“Inspection is more focused on root causes, programs and solutions,” he said. “The whole idea is to improve the situation and put in some procedures, reforms so that we can address the root causes. It’s like an evaluation.”

Amey said such examinations often include a look at “relevant laws, policies, memos, guidance and incident files to determine if the current system is being applied properly.”

He also said federal investigators likely will watch for systemic problems, gaps in the existing system or specific teams or groups that are out of compliance.

“It’s a significant move forward in addressing an endemic problem,” said Pedro Rios of the American Friends Service Committee in San Diego, which advocates for human rights. “It’s my hope they will draw up recommendations that will create a better mechanism for oversight and accountability, as well as recommendations for making” Customs and Border Protection and its branches more transparent.

Of the 19 deaths, the two most recent cases were the friendly-fire shooting of the Border Patrol agent — which took place in Arizona — and the shooting of a Mexican boy across the border from Texas.

But arguably, the death of Hernandez Rojas was the impetus for the Congressional letter. His case also has spurred a documentary aired on PBS, signature drives calling for greater government transparency about such deaths and a cross-country trip to Washington, D.C. to push for federal action.

Hernandez Rojas, the 42-year-old father of five, was deported to Mexico days before his death. He was trying to return to San Diego, where he had lived for nearly three decades, when the Border Patrol apprehended him.

Federal officials said he was combative while being returned to Mexico. Immigrant advocates, his family and bystanders — including one who took cellphone video — dispute that account and said Hernandez Rojas was hogtied, beaten and tased.

The San Diego County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide. Hernandez Rojas had a heart attack, but it’s unclear how much the beating, tasing, a heart condition and/or methamphetamine found in his system were to blame.

A grand jury was convened to hear evidence in the Hernandez Rojas case; the outcome of that proceeding has not been released.